Nearly 70 teachers from RTVUs and open universities nationwide came to Beijing to attend the first and second advanced training classes of 2013 hosted by the OUC’s School of Agroforestry and Medicine on April 15, 2013. The classes, which include agricultural and medical training, were co-designed by the School of Education and the School of Agroforestry and Medicine.
The first week of the advanced training classes consisted of distance education, instructional design, learner support, and IT. The second week consisted of academic frontiers, hot issues and course development. Lectures were given by experts from scientific research institutes, and domestic and foreign universities, such as Peking University, Beijing Normal University, Northeast Normal University, The Open University (UK), China Agricultural University, Beijing Forestry University, Capital Medical University, Beijing University of Agriculture, and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.
Yang Zhijian, president of the OUC, delivered a speech about the construction and development of the OUC. Guo Hongyang, director of the Human Resources Department, introduced the background, targets and content of the advanced training classes. Dean Guo Xiaoxia of the School of Agroforestry and Medicine hosted the opening ceremony.
Attendees study major curriculum features using a method of “card discussion” created by the University of Leicester
Dr. Martin Smith giving a lecture on Course Design and Tutor Support
An attendee representative introduces the discussion results
Display of course design outcomes
The attendees saw the advanced training classes as a rare opportunity for them to learn and share. They promised to make every minute count in order to contribute to the future development of the OUC.
The advanced training class hosted by the OUC aims to improve the quality of RTVU teaching staff nationwide to provide sufficient human resources for the development of the OUC. By attending a series of learning activities and discussions about academic frontiers, hot topics and key issues of open and distance learning and education technology, the attendees had the opportunity to enhance their ODL teaching and research abilities and professional level. The advanced training class has been successfully held eight times and over 700 teachers from RTVUs and open universities around China have participated.
The OUC headquarters is discussing a series of teacher training projects, some of which have already been launched, to improve the overall quality of teachers. For example, the OUC plans to establish a distance teacher-training platform, organize for teachers to participate in foreign and domestic training classes, and build an OUC teacher teaching development center. The distance teacher training platform is already online.
By Yin Shangjing, the OUC